The true story behind Netflix’s Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal

With Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal arriving on Netflix soon, here’s everything you need to know about the shocking true story set to be explored in the documentary series. 

While there’s plenty of new true crime to dive into this month, one that’s sparked intrigue isn’t dealing with serial killers or murder. Instead, it’s taking a look at the world of cheating in the digital era. 

A name that is synonymous with this world is Ashley Madison, the dating website that was launched in the early ‘00s and targeted at married people looking for affairs. As the site’s slogan bluntly puts it, “Life is short. Have an affair.”

Though it was always a divisive concept, the company ran into serious issues in 2015 when it became the target of a data breach. 

The true story of Netflix’s Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal

The Ashley Madison scandal unfolded in 2015 when a hacking group known as The Impact Team leaked data of approximately 32 million users, including names, profile information, addresses, and payment details. 

The group had previously threatened to post the information online if parent company Ruby Corp – previously known as Avid Life Media – didn’t shut down Ashley Madison and its sister site Established Men. In a statement shared at the time, The Impact Group claimed Ashley Madison is “a scam with thousands of fake female profiles.”

When Ruby failed to take down its sites, the hackers dropped a series of leaks on the dark web in July and August, causing widespread repercussions, with marriages strained and reputations tarnished. Former ALM Chief Executive Noel Biderman confirmed the hack, telling KrebsonSecurity in July 2015, “We’re not denying this happened. Like us or not, this is still a criminal act.”

The Impact Team said in its reasoning for the hacks that it believed ALM “profits on the pain of others.” But it also aimed to demonstrate issues with a service that allowed members to completely erase their profile information for an additional $19 fee.

“Full Delete netted ALM $1.7mm in revenue in 2014. It’s also a complete lie,” the group said. “Users almost always pay with credit card; their purchase details are not removed as promised, and include real name and address, which is of course the most important information the users want removed.”

As well as breaking families up and reputations apart, the data breach led to some users being targeted for extortion — even years later. In 2019, Vade Secure exposed a scam that saw emails sent to various victims of the Ashley Madison scandal threatening to send their personal information to friends and family unless they paid a Bitcoin ransom. 

The fallout from the breach prompted debates about online privacy, cybersecurity, and the ethics of platforms like Ashley Madison. Questions arose regarding the efficacy of the website’s security measures and its handling of user data, underscoring the vulnerabilities inherent in online platforms that promise anonymity and discretion to their users.

As stated by Vade Secure: “This Ashley Madison extortion scam is a good example that a data breach is never one and done. In addition to being sold on the dark web, leaked data is almost always used to launch additional email-based attacks, including phishing and scams such as this one.”

It also cost Ashley Madison’s parent company nearly a quarter of its revenue, according to Reuters. As well as paying $1.6 million to settle a probe by the US Federal Trade Commission, Ruby agreed to pay $11.2 million to settle a 2016 class action lawsuit brought about by a number of the data breach victims.

Is Ashley Madison still in business?

Ashley Madison is still up and running. By the end of 2020, the company reported that its membership count had risen to 70 million users across the world.

In August 2015, ALM’s Biderman agreed to step down as chief executive, saying that it’s “in the best interest of the company.” The following year, ALM rebranded to Ruby Corp, but the biggest change was the decision to replace Ashley Madison’s infamous “Life is short. Have an affair” slogan to “Find your moment.”

Rob Segal, who took Biderman’s place that year, said that the idea was “to completely rebuild the company as a relevant, digital dating innovator that truly cares for our customers.”

But in 2017, Paul Keable took over as Ruby Corp CEO, and in the same year, Ashley Madison’s brand change was reversed. Currently, its original image of a woman holding a finger to her mouth and the tagline “Life is short. Have an affair” are at the forefront of the brand’s image. 

What is Netflix’s Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal about?

As well as chronicling the roller coaster ride of Ashley Madison as a business, Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal on Netflix will speak with numerous former employees and clients while offering a new perspective on why people were drawn to the site in the first place. 

Speaking to Netflix about the docu-series, director Toby Paton explained, “We all know infidelity can be incredibly destructive and hurtful, but at the same time, the fact that Ashley Madison had 37 million members tells us something else we all know — that committing to one person for the rest of your life is really hard.

“Rather than berating people who joined Ashley Madison we were much more interested in exploring why they were drawn to the site. What were they looking for? What was going on in their relationships? And, crucially: What was their partner’s side of the story?”

Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal drops on Netflix on May 15, 2024. You can also check out new TV shows coming to streaming this month, as well as new movies to add to your watchlist.